Machine for winding conical yarn packages



Sept. 11, 1962 w, c. os

MACHINE FOR WINDING CONICAL YARN PACKAGES Filed Aug. 28, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. h dy/ve C. 770st ATTORNEYS Sept. 11, 1962 w. c. TROST 3,053,464

MACHINE FOR WINDING CONICAL YARN PACKAGES Filed Aug. 28, 19.59 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

' ATTORNEYJ Sept. 11, 1962 w. c. TROST MACHINE FOR WINDING CONICAL YARN PACKAGES Filed Aug. 28, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. C. Trost I W Mayne BY (2.74

ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofilice 3,053,464 Patented Sept. 11, 1962 3,053,464 MACHINE FOR WINDING CONICAL YARN PACKAGES Wayne C. Trost, Rockford, 111., assignor to Barber- Colman Company, Rockford, 11]., a corporation of Hlinois Filed Aug. 28, 1959, Ser. No. 836,641 1 Claim. (Cl. 242-432) This invention relates to winding machines of the type commonly referred to as Spoolers for winding relatively large conical yarn packages from thread drawn successively from a number of smaller packages and, more particularly, to a spooler in which a drum frictionally drives the yarn package and has a groove extending helically around the drum periphery to receive the thread and traverse it back and forth along the package in such a manner as to place more thread on the large end of the conical package.

The general object is to provide in a machine of the above character a winding drum operable to wind conical packages at relatively high winding speeds as compared to those formerly used.

Another object is to provide, in a winding drum of the above character, grooves formed in such a manner that the angle formed by the intersection of the groove guiding the thread in one direction with the groove guiding the thread in the opposite direction is sufiiciently large to permit the thread to follow the grooves when reversing direction even though the drum is turning at a comparatively high speed.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a winder embodying the novel features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating the manner in which the thread is wound on the package from the large to the small end.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but illustrating the manner in which the thread is wound from the small to the large end of the package.

FIG. 5 is a development view of the winding drum showing the paths along which the grooves are formed.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a modified form of the invention.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are similar to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 and illustrate the traversing characteristics of the modified form of the winding drum.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged elevational View of the modified form of the winding drum.

FIG. 10 is an elevational view of a yarn package wound by the modified form of the winding drum and showing the manner in which the thread is removed from the package.

For purposes of illustration the present invention is shown in the drawings embodied in a yarn winder of the Spooler type. In devices of this type, yarn is drawn from a number of small packages 10 called bobbins and wound into a larger package 11 as the latter is rotated about its axis. Rotation is imparted to the package by frictional contact with the surface of a winding drum 12 which is mounted on a shaft 13 journaled in a support 14 fixed to the base 15 of the winder. A pulley 16 is fast on an extension of the shaft 13 and rotation is transmitted from a power source, not shown, to the pulley by means of a belt 17. A package core 18 on which the thread is wound is mounted on a support 19 pivoted on the base so as to permit movement of the package toward and away from the fixed axis of the winding drum 12. As the yarn is wound on the package 11, the package support 19 turns about a pivot thereby maintaining the frictional contact between the drum 12 and the package 11 as the diameter of the package increases.

In the present instance, the package support 19 comprises a bar 20 projecting radially from a sleeve 21 which is journaled on the shaft 13 supporting the winding drum 12. The sleeve 21 turns relative to the shaft 13 to permit the bar 20' to swing between a package winding position wherein the package 11 is in contact with the,

drum 12 and a package removing position wherein the package is disposed outwardly from the winding drum to facilitate removal of the completed package. A spring 22 acting between the bar and the frame of the winder urges the bar against a stop 23 which maintains the bar in the package winding position.

Pivoted on the free end of the bar 20 is a second bar 24- carrying a spindle 25 which receives the package core 18. The bar 24 is turned about the pivotal connection 24 between the two bars as the diameter of the package 11 increases. To maintain the package in close running contact with the winding drum 12 a spring 26 acts between the bars urging the second bar 24 downwardly and thereby holding the package against the drum.

Outwardly opening grooves 27 are formed in the surface of the winding drum to guide the thread from a bobbin 10 which is mounted beneath the drum 12, to the yarn package 11 and to traverse the thread longitudinally along the package. In the illustrated form of the invention, two grooves 28 and 29 are provided, one to guide the thread in each direction. The two grooves 28 and 29 are oppositely inclined and extend in a spiral around the drum 12 from one end to the other and intersect each other at each end of the drum. The thread is guided along the length of the package .11 from one end to the other by one of the grooves where it is transferred to the intersecting groove and moved back in the opposite direction to the first end of the package.

In winding conical packages on a cylindrical drum '12 which has the grooves 28 and 29 formed to produce a uniform rate of thread traverse, the thread is wound on the large end of the cone at a greater speed, and hence with greater tension than at the small end of the cone. As a result, the density of the package is greater at the large end. Moreover, the peripheral speed of the package equals the peripheral speed of the drum only at some point between the ends of the package. Toward the large end, the speed of the package is greater than that of the drum and this produces a. friction force which increases the yarn tension. Toward the small end, the speed of the drum is greater and this decreases the tensron.

To compensate for the foregoing, it has been the practice in winding conical packages on cylindrical drums to form the grooves 28 and 29 so that they increase the rate of traverse toward the small end of the cone and decrease the rate of traverse toward the large end. Thus, the sum of the velocity components due to traverse of the thread and rotation of the package produce a substantially uniform winding speed throughout the length of the package. In prior arrangements, this compensa tion has been achieved by making the grooves in the form of parabolic curves (diagrammatically illustrated at 30 and 31 in FIG. 5).

When the grooves are-formed along a parabolic path, their intersection at the end of the drum adjacent the small end of the conical package forms a rather small included angle a as shown in FIG. 5. In moving back and forth along the package, the thread must be guided around this small angle in transferring from one groove to the other thereby reversing the direction of the traverse. The disadvantage found to result from the use of grooves following curves such as described is that in winding at the higher speeds, on the order of 1200 yards per minute, the thread will not stay in the grooves when reversing direction.

In accordance with the present invention, the paths along which the grooves are formed are such as to increase the included angle at the point of intersection of the grooves thereby providing better traversing character isticswhile still being operable to wind a conical package having a substantially uniform density throughout its length. To this end, the groove 28 which traverses the thread from the large to the small end of the package 11 is formed along a substantially straight line path rather than the conventional parabolic curve and the groove traversing the thread in the reverse direction, from the small end to the large end of the package, is modified so as to have more curvature than the conventional parabolic curve and thus have a more rapidly decreasing lead than the latter.

As shown in FIG. 5, the angle formed by the intersection of the straight line path 28 and a diametn'cal plane (identified by 32) passing through the intersection of the paths is substantially larger than the angle formed between the parabolic curve 30 and the plane 32. Adjacent the small end of the package 11, the additional curvature of the path of the groove 29 traversing the thread in the opposite direction deviates only slightly from the usual parabolic curve and, therefore, the angle formed at the intersection of this path 29 and the plane 32 is not appreciably decreased from that angle formed by the path 31 and the plane. The end result, therefore, is to increase the angle between the two grooves at their intersection thereby enabling the thread to follow the grooves around this angle when winding at the higher speeds and forming conical packages having large cone angles.

The traversing characteristics of the modified grooves are illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 shows the manner in which the straight groove 28 guides the thread onto the package so as to distribute the thread evenly along the package. FIG. 4 illustrates the manner in which the curved groove 29 guides the thread along the package in the opposite direction to wind more thread on the large end of the package. The lead of the path of the curved groove 29 is less on the drum end contacting the large end of the package 11 than at the other end whereby more thread is wound on the large end to compensate for the variance in tension at which the thread is wound and thereby to produce a package having a substantially uniform density.

The diameter of the winding drum required to Wind a package of a given size depends upon the number of revolutions of the drum required to traverse the thread along the entire length of the package; the more revolutions required, the smaller the drum. In the present instance, the drum 12 is constructed so as to traverse the thread from one end of the package to the other in 1 /2 revolutions of the drum. Since the complete traverse does not take place in one revolution, the grooves 28 and 29 cross over one another at points 33 along their path around the drum. In order to facilitate guiding the thread past the crossover points 33 and into the proper groove on the opposite side, the grooves 28 and 29 are formed to flare outwardly at the outer periphery of the drum so as to receive the thread better.

FIGS. 6 to illustrate a modified form of the present invention for use in Winding packages in which the cone angle increases as the package builds up. Packages of this nature are advantageous in that, in drawing the thread from the package, a thread eye 34 may be placed outwardly of the apex 35 of the cone (FIG. 10) whereby the thread leaving the package will not drag on the sides of the package and thus be subjected to varying tensions which could result in the thread breaking.

In winding packages of this character, a conical winding drum 36 is utilized to rotate the package and to guide the thread back and forth along the package (FIG. 6). The drum is mounted in the same manner as the drum 12 described above, that is, on a shaft 37 journaled in a hub 38 fixed to the base of the machine. The drum is rotated by a belt 39 passing around a pulley 40 mounted on extension of the shaft 37. The thread is guided from the bobbin 10 to a package 11 and wound on a core 18 journaled on a support 41 which is pivoted to the frame of the spooler.

In order to form a conical package having a varying cone angle, the package support 41 is pivoted to the frame to turn about an axis passing through the apex 35 of the cone and extending perpendicular to the axis of the package. As the support 41 pivots about this axis, the cone angle of the package is increased.

In the modified form of the invention, the cone angle of the package increases continuously during the winding operation. As a result, the difference between the diameter of the large and small end of the package also increases continuously. In order to achieve uniform tension and produce a package with uniform density in spite of this changing cone angle, the present invention contemplates the provision of compensated leads for the grooves 28 and 29 so that progressively more yarn is wound on the package toward the large end. While this may be effected by using parabolic curves for the grooves, it is preferred to modify these curves much in the same manner as with a cylindrical drum so as to permit winding at high speeds.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 a straight path 28 having a constant lead deposits the thread evenly along the package 11 from the large to the small end. A modified parabolic curve 29 guides the thread along the package from the small to the large end thereof. The lead of the curved path varies along the length of the passage and is less at the large end which results in a greater amount of thread being placed thereon. As in winding with a cylindrical drum,- the curvature is greater than the parabola normally used so that the combined eifects of the grooves 28 and 29 is substantially the same as would be produced by two conventional parabolic curves.

It will be apparent that a. winding drum constructed in accordance with the present invention overcomes the disadvantages of former drums in that the angle at the intersection of the grooves is increased. The increased angle reduces the tendency for the thread to come out of the groves when its direction of travel along the drum is reversed and permits high speed winding of conical packages having relative large cone angles as compared to those formerly used.

I claim as my invention:

In a machine for winding a conical package of yarn on a conical core, the combination of, a base, and a winding drum rotatably mounted on said base to turn about a predetermined axis and having first and second thread guiding grooves extending diagonally and in opposite directions across the surface of said drum to intersect each other at both ends of the drum, said first groove guiding the thread from the large end of the package to the small end and having a substantially constant lead and said second groove guiding the thread from small end of the package to the large end and having a progressively decreasing lead.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,126,809 McKean Feb. 2, 1915 2,753,126 Marcellus July 3, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 257,840 Great Britain Sept. 9, 1926 674,615 Great Britain June 25, 1952 677,552 Great Britain Aug. 20, 1952 

